Can my previous experience count towards foster carer training?

Previous experience may be recognised through an individual assessment of your training needs, but it does not usually provide an automatic exemption from foster carer training. The fostering service will consider what you have done, what you can evidence and how closely it matches the knowledge and skills required to care for looked-after children.

Relevant experience can come from a range of roles and responsibilities, including:

• Working with children or young people in education, childcare, youth work, health, social care or community settings.
• Supporting children with additional needs, disabilities, communication difficulties or challenging behaviour.
• Experience of safeguarding, child protection, safer working practices or reporting concerns.
• Professional knowledge of child development, attachment, trauma, loss or the impact of abuse and neglect.
• Previous fostering, adoption, kinship care or residential childcare experience.
• Relevant qualifications or training, such as first aid, behaviour support or social care learning.

Your own parenting or caring experience can also help you discuss practical skills such as setting boundaries, communicating with children and managing routines. However, personal experience is considered differently from a formal qualification or professional role. It is useful evidence of your capabilities, but it will not necessarily cover the specific responsibilities involved in fostering.

During the application and assessment process, you may be asked about the dates, setting and nature of your previous experience. Useful evidence can include certificates, training records, job descriptions, references or examples of responsibilities you held. You may also be asked to explain how you applied your knowledge in practice and what you learned from the experience. If a qualification or certificate is out of date, the fostering service may recommend an update rather than treating it as current evidence.

Previous experience is normally used to tailor your learning rather than remove all training requirements. You may still need to complete preparation training and any mandatory learning required by the fostering service. This ensures that every applicant understands fostering-specific subjects, including the legal and professional responsibilities of foster carers, safeguarding procedures, confidentiality, recording, working with the child’s family and cooperating with social workers and other professionals.

For example, a teacher may already understand child development and safeguarding, while a care worker may have experience of records, routines and professional boundaries. Neither role necessarily covers the full impact of family contact, delegated authority, allegations, fostering regulations or helping a child manage separation and uncertainty. Those areas may therefore remain part of the required training.

The outcome should be recorded as part of your training or development plan. It may identify:

• Knowledge that has already been demonstrated.
• Subjects where further training is recommended.
• Practical skills that need to be explored during assessment or supervision.
• Updates needed to keep previous qualifications relevant.
• Additional preparation linked to the age, needs or circumstances of children you may care for.

Having previous experience can make some parts of training more familiar, but it is still important to approach the learning with an open mind. Fostering involves applying existing skills in a different setting, with ongoing professional oversight and a focus on the individual child’s history, relationships and needs.

Become A Foster Family can discuss your background, review relevant evidence and explain how it may fit into your preparation. Its guidance, training and ongoing assistance are designed to help identify any gaps and support you through the assessment and approval process.